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meditation

ToV 21 – Grumble Grumble …Ah!

The inside of my head has been an annoying place to be as of late. The bulk of my self-talk centres around despondency and frustration and the GIANT gap between what I’m doing and what I want to be doing – including my ability to add to my Tao Te Ching commentaries here. Grumble…

I’m doing a few things right, like getting back to meditating every day, but mostly I spend a lot of time thinking about my problems and how to fix them, how to get some spark back into my life instead of just dragging through what has to be done.

I had a couple of realizations today that may just be the shift I need. First is the realization these Tao of V posts aren’t just one more thing on my things to get done list, it’s part of my practice–that thing I do every day to recentre me and help me focus on what to actually put my life energy towards. I’d been avoiding this work as I thought I had more important stuff to do and I should back burner this, only to discover, when I stop doing these, I don’t have the energy or focus to do anything else anyway.

If I don’t have enough energy to do anything more than, in essence, those things that fall under the category of “be excellent to yourself” then so be it. Ain’t nothing wrong with a life focused on self nourishment for a while – I surely won’t get anything else done if I fall down on the self nourishment anyway.

The other really profound realization today was in how I read the chapter before I sit down to meditate (and I don’t mean reading it right to left or some weird esoteric thing). Thing is, because I’d set this as a writing project, one to help explain concepts of Taoism in more modern terms, I tend to read each day with an eye to how I shall present the ideas to others. Again, as per realization one: this is my practice; what if I read each page looking for what I needed for me and commented on that? 

Oh.

Whole different kettle of fish that is. First off, it probably lends to better writing, as I think my posts are way more interesting when I’m laying bare my own messed up crazy bits and sharing my process rather than when I talk on high trying to get YOU people all sorted. But more interesting, it pushes me to push at me. To find the places where I am stuck (and there are many!) and find the cracks to niggle through.

So today’s selection is all about me …but maybe it’s about you too:

The Master keeps her mind
always at one with the Tao;
that is what gives her her radiance.

Now, in a time when I am feeling everything on the far side of the moon from radiance this was a bit like a spiritual cuff to the back of the head. Read More »ToV 21 – Grumble Grumble …Ah!

Meditation, How to Begin

I’ve had a number of people ask me of late how to get started in meditation, where to go, what you actually do, books to read. Rather than trying to squeeze answers into a tweet or fit advice in over the bustle of a dinner, I’m just going to sit down and gather all my thoughts and resources in one handy link (just for ya’ll, see I’m looking out for ya!).

Meditation isn’t really anything exotic, we’re hardwired to do it, though our current culture derails most of our natural tendencies. Pretty much every religion and philosophy has some sort of meditation, even if it doesn’t describe itself as such.

I think it was maybe the Dalai Lama said, start with the path that’s close to home (that feels very Tolkien-esqe eh?). If you’re at all connected to your own roots, be it Christian, Jewish, Hindu, whatever, start there (just google your religion + mediation, who knows what you’ll find). Maybe what’s close to home is more literal, like the yoga studio in your neighbourhood. Keep in mind if you’re looking for a group, a place to practice, you’re going to have to go there on a regular basis, you don’t want all that inner peace fried by the commute.

Regardless of the sect/philosophy you choose, in a group, what matters most is you feel an affinity for the people around you and the things they practice. Read More »Meditation, How to Begin

ToV 5 – making friends with your goblins

The Tao doesn’t take sides;
it gives birth to both good and evil.

I’ve been reading my niece fairy stories. As an aside, if you want to make great gobs of cash, find something small girls obsess over (like fairies or ponies or princesses), write a story about it, when it’s a hit write the same frickin’ story over and over again with slight changes to plot and auxiliary characters. It’s basically the young mind version of formulaic trashy romance novels, great to see those neurons mapped early! (sheesh). So, after about the 8th one of these highly predictable stories (okay it probably only took to the second book) I started interjecting some critical thinking amid the plot – trying to explain to a seven year old the use of goblins as a narrative device, and asking why the main characters never seemed to grow or change when several years must have passed with all these stories. My niece just gives me that look (that I seem to get around here a lot) where she’s trying really hard to understand where I’m going with all of this, but really wishes I would just shut up and read the story.Read More »ToV 5 – making friends with your goblins

ToV 1 – try not to try not to think

The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao.

The only advice I got on Taoist meditation was: try not to try not to think. There are things you’re just never going to accomplish if you really put your head to them.

When I gave my friend this book, he complained of the poem-like verses, said he wished I would write stories to explain them instead (my 81 instalments is a bit of a friendly nod to that). But the reality is, this the ineffable baby! Read More »ToV 1 – try not to try not to think